The Builders

By: Daniel Polansky

Narrated by: Corey Gagne

Length: 3 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

A missing eye. A broken wing. A stolen country. The last job didn't end well. Years go by, and scars fade, but memories only fester. For the animals of the captain's company, survival has meant keeping a low profile, building a new life, and trying to forget the war they lost. But now the captain's whiskers are twitching at the idea of evening the score.

©2015 Daniel Polansky (P)2015 Macmillan Audio

Tone and structure issues disappoint a promising plot

I really wanted to like this. I went into it reading great reviews and recommendations, but what I found was disappointing.
I saw other criticisms always boiling down to the animal characters but that didn’t bother me at all. It wasn’t used to great success, but it didn’t ruin the fantasy.

What did ruin it for me is the tone and structure.
It felt like teenage fan fiction and was in a competition with itself to be the most edgy.
I understand the violent juxtaposition with the critters. The gruesome descriptions isn’t the issue here. Again, I wanted to like it because I liked the idea but the writing was not good and constantly took me out of it.

Additionally, the structure is poorly constructed. There were far too many “chapters” that last 20s per audibles tracking. It amounts to “Chapter X: Subtitle. One or two lines” and then the next chapter. It ruined the pacing of the book. It reminded me of Capitan Underpants, the graphic novel for kids, where an entire chapter is “and so they did”.
Part of that is the fault of the audio book structure, but it happens too much to be excusable.

The sequence of events is okay. It’s a lot of characters and you don’t understand their relationship and then you’re drip fed information as the book goes on that back-constructs the gaps. I like it and would love to listen again now with all the information, but the other issues prevent me.

Lastly, the story itself isn’t long. I don’t recall the specifics off the top of my head, but of the 3.5hr long audio book, I think after 2hrs we stopped introducing characters and the gang is assembled and could finally actually progress the plot which resolves immediately and once I finally care about the characters it’s over and they didn’t get to perform anything.

so good! such fun! much animal!<br />

freat narrator, fun story, fans of the redwall series who are all grown up now taje notice!

A good listen

it's a bit short. I liked the characters and would have been nice to get a bit more. But overall very enjoyable.

A gem

Have you listened to any of Corey Gagne’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I had not heard this narrator before, but he did a superb job in giving each character a distinct voice that brought them to life in my mind.

Any additional comments?

This book is a pleasure, and my favorite book of the year. I was smiling the whole trip.

In terms of plot, you will not find anything new here. Troubleshooters of old monarchy get the band back together to take vengeance on the crew who deposed them. There are no real surprises there.

The delight comes from the prose. The sentences are almost fairy tale like in the playful way they handle language or even speak to the reader. There is good description, and a full story don't get me wrong, but the writing style is intended to be amusing and clever. Let me give you two examples:

"She was pretty, for a guinea pig, if you didn't mind them heavy. If you did mind them heavy, you pro probably wouldn't go for a guinea pig."

"Drunk as they were, they'd have cheered for the moon to make war with the stars, and offered odds on the result."

Bare in mind though this isn't a fairy tale, and it is quite violent. While not wallowing in graphic descriptions, there is no shyness in describing the results of gunfire. This is not a book for children.

Secondly "The Builders" has great characters. Not in terms of depth but by way of color and distinctness. I could see and hear each each individually. Sometimes when the narrative is in one character's head, it is shaped quite well by their personality, and that brings the lovely sentences to the realm of characters. Also, the author uses animal aspects nicely, as it seems so fundamental to the characters, their personalities, and their abilities. Were this story about humans it would be three times duller, but I am certain the author could still well succeed.

I could happily read a dozen books in this style, in this world. With there only being one, I hope that you will at least read this one.

Enjoyed immensely, could maybe be a bit longer?

Really enjoyed the story. It’s basically redwall meets magnificent seven. I like that it was shorter, but I think the story could’ve used a BIT more fleshing out. Altogether a fun few hours :)

awesome

I loved this book. it's like the magnificent 7 but with animals. a great read.

Short & Fun

Really enjoyed this. A tight story that doesn't leave many loose ends. The action is only as long as it needs to be, and the characters are neat, but a large cast for such a brief story made for confusing moments as I struggled to differentiate between them until near the end of the story. The narrator did a fine enough job for the most part, though he takes time falling into certain characters voices, which did not help with the problems of identity. All things considered, I liked it.

Redwall meets Seven Samurai

Redwall meets Seven Samurai. Great shorter story with fun characters. Definitely a wonderfully good reread.

Interesting

Very grim tone revenge storyline very short in words! were it fully doesn’t get to or needs to get to my opinion , but at the same time it’s done in a different way where it keeps your interest going throughout the book! 
It has shades of Red Wall meets magnificent seven. still wonder how this would be if it was a longer adaptation of the storyline!

*Two thumbs up.*

What do you get when Redwall meets the Wild West? The Builders! what a fun, bloody, howling good listen!